Philosophy

=WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO UNDERSTAND ANCIENT PHILOSOPHY? =  //Some aspects of society, the basic concepts of man, the concept of societal justice and the idea of absolute beauty are imperishable. In order to understand the true basis for modern beliefs and views, we must first understand ancient beliefs and views. Perhaps the most famous of the texts is// The Republic //by Plato which is a dramatic dialogue between Socrates and various other Athenians. A visual description of the main points in// The Republic //is seen below. Click on the web to scroll and enlarge.//

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The separate concise explanation for the Theory of Forms is seen [|here] and below is a visual description of the Theory of Forms.

media type="custom" key="3288850"[|Original Site] Video of the Allegory of the Cave

=**FINAL ANALYSIS:** = //Today, the people held in highest esteem are those who do: Those who play sports, those who govern, those who rule. In ancient society, those held in highest esteem are those who thought, such as Plato. What does this reveal? It reveals that through the teachings of Plato, Socrates, Aristotle and others thinking has become such a humanistic trait that  it is implied that those who do also think. Through thought and process of justice gaining ubiquity over the past millennia, we can ascertain that society was accepting of the ideas of thought and enlightenment.

But we are not completely receptive to all of Plato's ideals. As a culture, we rejected Plato's ideals on Enlightenment and Philosopher Kings. In western society, the most enlightened do not rule. Instead, the rulers are seleted by (most often) a vote of citizens based on favorable characteristics and political stances. Therefore, arguably modern day western civilization is a combination of a democracy and a timocracy, two of the four forms of government that Plato decreed were doomed to fail. Plato argued that timocracy led to inneficient rule of people, and democracy gave too much power to the people and is susceptible to factional rule. Do his claims make sense today? Are his claims about government true?

This is the basis of philosophy: The comparisons of beliefs to reality. It is up to the individual to accept or reject certain philosophy based on their own perception of the world. Modern philosophy such as Objectiveism, Modernism, Existentialism, Nihilism, and others all descend with modification from texts such as The Republic and other ancient texts. As a society, we would not think and express ourselves the way we do without the influence of ancient philosphy.//